LAS VEGAS, Nev.— The UC Riverside Softball Team (33-22) is off to the postseason after being selected to the National Invitational Softball Championship Sunday evening. The Highlanders will head to Las Vegas, Nevada for first round regional action as they matchup with the Nevada Wolf Pack (25-25) in game one Wednesday at 3:00 PM. Utah Valley (21-29), Weber State (27-24), and host UNLV (31-18) round out the rest of the regional bracket.
This will be the first ever DI postseason appearance for UCR Softball and the first matchup between the Highlanders and the Wolf Pack since 2006.
FULL REGIONAL BRACKET
NISC TOURNAMENT
The selection committee for the National Invitational Softball Championships has announced the 17-team field for the 2018 NISC. This marks the second year of the tournament, which features eight teams that have won 30 games or more during the 2018 season and six teams that finished second or better during the regular season in their respective conferences.
Each double-elimination regional concludes play on either Friday, May 18 or Saturday, May 19. The Championship round, also double-elimination, is slated to begin Wednesday, May 23 at a host site to be determined.
SCOUTING THE WOLF PACK
Nevada enters the postseason on a two game winstreak after capping off its conference season with a 2-1 series win over Fresno State. The team is led offensively by senior Erika Hansen who tops the Wolf Pack with 61 hits (.396), 13 homeruns, and 51 RBI. Freshman Julia Jensen will be a likely starter as the pitcher ahs collected a team-high 24 starts for Nevada this season.
#1 IS THE ONE
Following UC Riverside's dominant series win over UC Santa Barbara – the Highlanders' first Big West sweep of the season – junior Hannah Rodriguez was named the Big West Softball Field Player of the Week. The UCR shortstop went 7-for-10 in the series with UCSB, recording at least one run, two hits and an RBI in all three games. She had her biggest outing of the weekend in Saturday's 9-3 victory, when she posted a 3-of-4 mark at the plate to go along with three RBI and one stolen base. She capped off her weekend with a 2-of-3 line in Sunday's 14-0 win, adding another three RBI.
Rodriguez became the fourth different Highlander to receive Big West Player of the Week honors this season, marking the fifth conference accolade for the team thus far.
PUTTING THE "C" IN COACH
Head Coach Nikki Palmer earned her 100th career win on April 21st, 2018 in UCR's 3-2 win over UC Davis. She is currently at 105 and has collected 66 wins as a Highlander.
RECORD BREAKERS
So far this year the Highlanders have broke several aUCR records:
Pitcher Tayler Misfeldt — All-Time Wins Leader - 54 (previous: 40)
Pitcher Tayler Misfeldt — All-Time Strikeouts Leader - 383 (previous: 312)
Outfielder Jenna Curtan — All-Time Hits Leader - 232 (previous: 199)
Outfielder Jenna Curtan — All-Time Runs Leader - 145 (previous: 114)
Outfielder Jenna Curtan — All-Time Doubles Leader - 38 (previous: 36)
Outfielder Seanna Garewal — Tied for DI Single Season Triples Leader - 5
Outfielder Seanna Garewal — Single Season HBP Leader - 24 (previous: 15)
NO-NO
On Saturday April 14th, pitcher Hailey Dolcini notched her first career no-hitter against CSUN in a game where the score was tied until the bottom of the 6th inning. The freshman struck out two batters and only put four runners aboard on balls in her 11th win. After walking the lead off batter in the 4th inning, Dolcini retired the final 12 batters to close out the game. This was the first no-hitter of the season for the Highlanders and their 12th shutout.
BIG WEST ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Earlier this season, the Highlanders had the Big West Athlete of the Week Honors locked down winning the award four consecutive weeks and have now added one more after an impressive weekend from Hannah Rodriguez.
February 27th — Sarah Parten - Field Player of the Week
March 6th — Jenna Curtan - Field Player of the Week
March 13th — Hailey Dolcini - Pitcher of the Week
March 20th — Hailey Dolcini - Pitcher of the Week
May 7th — Hannah Rodriguez - Field Player of the Week
DON'T STOP BELIEVING
UCR has performed exceptionally well even when trailing as the team has registered 10 wins in games where its opponent got on the scoreboard first. This includes four wins when the Highlanders trailed after the 5th inning and three wins despite trailing after the 6th.
CURTAN'S UP
Senior Jenna Curtan has been a strong offensive leader so far in her final season for the Highlanders. Over the team's 55 games this year she ranks 1st on the team in batting average (.379), slugging (.515), OPB (.490), hits (64), doubles (15), runs (47), and total bases (87). Curtan has also displayed some heroics, gathering late inning hits and runs in the wins over George Washington and St. John's.
Curtan was awarded Big West Field Player of the Week on March 5th after an outstanding Highlander Classic. Over the 4-game weekend, Curtan truly stood out as she led the team in batting average (.889), slugging (1.222), OBP (.929), runs scored (7), hits (8), total bases (11), and doubles (3). The Highlander's center fielder went 8-for-9 in the tournament and only recorded one out in her 14 plate appearances. Her last hit of the weekend, an RBI single up the middle to add to UCR's dominant 11-0 win over Saint Mary's, was the senior's 200th career hit, which broke the all-time UCR record. Curtan is also the all-time leader in runs with 133, is tied for the all time doubles record with 36, and is tied for 2nd in triples with nine.
FRESHMEN ON FIRE
Freshman Seanna Garewal and Hailey Dolcini have made a huge impact on the team in their first year of play.
Left fielder Garewal ranks 4th on the team in batting average (.299), 3rd in OBP(.438) and slugging (.465), and 2nd in runs scored (25) (minimum 50 AB). The Highlander left fielder also leads the Big West Conference in HBP (25) and triples (5).
Pitcher Hailey Dolcini (14-9) leads the team with a 1.86 ERA. Opponents have struggled against the freshman batting only .198 and striking out 112 times in her 33 appearances.
SHUTOUT CITY
14 of the team's wins this season have come by way of shutout. In those 14 games, the Highlanders have won a pair of 10-0 games, an 11-0 game, and have scored a combined 77 runs.
HOT STARTS
The Highlanders have faired well when they get on the score board early as they are 23-4 when scoring first and are 14-3 when the team scores in the 1st inning. This success has been in part because of UCR's ability to get lead-off batters aboard 45.2% of the time.
FRESHMAN PHENOM
Freshman pitcher Hailey Dolcini repeated as Big West Pitcher of the Week on March 19th after a dominant performance in the Highlander Invitational. This was the fourth straight week that a Highlander has received a conference honor.
During the tournament the freshman made four appearances, two of which were starts, and scattered eight hits while walking just three and striking out 11. She threw a complete game four-hit shutout against Harvard to start the UCR Tournament walking just one batter and striking out four.
The rookie pitcher had a 46 inning scoreless streak, which is the longest streak on the team this season.
TAYLER ON TOP
Senior Pitcher Tayler Misfeldt (17-11) broke the all-time UCR record for wins on February 18th, 2018 as she picked up her 41st W in a shutout vs. Stanford and since then has extended that record to 54. So far this season she has shutout four teams and struck-out 141 batters to earn a 2.66 ERA.
In the Highlander's 2nd game against Colgate, Misfeldt stepped to the plate for the first time in her career and went 2-for-3 with a triple and 2 RBIs.
RAMELOT'S HOT
Two of UCR's wins have come by way of walk-off from sophomore Emma Ramelot. The shortstop was truly clutch against George Washington hitting a solo homerun to tie the game and then a walk-off double an inning later to cap off a huge comeback and win the game 9-8. Just three days later, Ramelot would step to the plate against St. John's and win the game with an infield single after her team trailed 1-0 going into the bottom of the 7th.
PARTEN THE INTERRUPTION
Sophomore first baseman Sarah Parten took home the Big West Field Player of the Week honors on February 26th after a very impressive weekend at the Amy S. Harrison Classic, where she had a team best .615 batting average, .677 OBP, and an outstanding slugging percentage of .846. She registered two hits in all four games and was a key part of UCR's comeback win over George Washington, where the team trailed 6-0 in the 3rd inning. The sophomore also smacked a 3-run HR against No. 23 Cal.
